DESS reveals number of communities transferred to OCU during the war

Head of DESS Viktor Yelensky. Photo: DESS

According to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), 159 religious communities were transferred from the UOC to the jurisdiction of the OCU in 2024. Over the period from 2022 to 2024, DESS officials registered a total of 1,127 such transfers. This information was provided by the Service in response to a request from religious scholar Oleksiy Smirnov, who shared the details on his Facebook page.

As previously reported by the UOJ, on August 16, the "Life-Giving Spring" Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra will be handed over to the OCU by the state.

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